It’s been another rough day in the office for both of our Australian men’s and women’s hockey teams in Antwerp, Belgium this time at the hands of Argentina. The men despite a great start earlier on from Tim Brand was run down off the back of the opposition’s 2-0 comeback from behind during the 3rd quarter before they were held back 2-1 in the end. Then the women were unable to grasp out of the second-best ranked team with hit and misses and also defensive gaps falling anywhere and everywhere even though they were 1-0 down at half-time in the hope of a good turnaround, having also been bitterly bruised 5-0 thanks to an excellent Argentinean 2nd half counter-attack including their dominant possession & winning penalties.
Gotta say too much ill-discipline and not enough possession when creating the best chances with the ball has crippled the Hockeyroos so much when the backline including the goalkeeper worked so hard to stop the Argentineans from its tracks which wasn’t oh so easy. We thought being 1-0 down is better than nothing so they can turn things around in order to bridge the other end that would hopefully bring some confidence to close things out their way but nothing much has changed unfortunately when the Argentineans had greater control of the ball from here that restricted the best out of our attack.
As said with the men, great start by the Kookaburras with the quick counter-attacking finish where there were some good numbers to give Tim Brand the finishing touches he needs for the early lead while toning the opposition play down that puts them in front at half-time 1-0. However, they just couldn’t build on when trying to get past a robust Argentinean defense including some hit and misses before it eventually came back to haunt them, particularly during the 3rd quarter. Their momentum just isn’t the same as it was earlier on when there less opportunities towards shots on target while witnessing the Argentinans rebound by ripping up their own backline with numbers clearly shown to snatch the lead & then shut it down including another set of lost penalties & ill-discipline that consigned them to yet another loss against another top-notch side.
The Hockeyroos will have a rest day today with the Kookaburras getting a bit more time before they will both be back in action this weekend. Here’s the following next matches to round off their Belgian mini-tour in Antwerp before turning their attention to Germany and Great Britain to finish off the 2023-24 FIH Pro League season in London, UK sometime next week:
- Hockeyroos v Argentina again on Saturday night our time with the Kookaburras to follow straight after that v the Argentina Men’s team.
- Hockeyroos continue on Sunday night our time v Belgium again; same with the Kookaburras v Belgium once more straight after that in the early hours of Monday morning our time.
